Icarian:Kindred Spirits

As is often the case when I come to write about games I have a confession to make. I'm rather partial to well designed side on platformers. Oh I've dallied with the 3D and the psuedo 3D but my heart belongs to the side on platformer so when I saw a new wiiware title I thought I'd give it a go. I exchanged 1000 Wii Points for Icarian:Kindred Spirits and began playing.

The story line is your usual mortal falls in love with goddess which is forbidden but in an unexpected change of heart the senior deity allows the goddess to search for her missing beau when he disappears after a crisis affair. Graphically it is a scorched ancient desert replete with columns and pillars, amphorae and viaducts. The soundtrack is atmospheric and also conveys a feeling of Ancient Greece played as it is on instruments such as the harp, santur and duduk.

The game can be played either one player with wiimote and nunchuk or two player where the second player assists the first by taking over control of some of the powers that are accumulated during the levels. The first is the ability to grab and move some objects, the second is to control the paths of wind, I've not yet reached a third ability but I believe that it is some kind of lightning strike. You run, walk, jump and fly through the levels trying to avoid enemies and scenery while solving puzzles that will allow you to progress further. A couple of times I've kicked myself once I've spotted the choice of path (it always seems so obvious once you've solved the puzzle) but on the whole the seasoned gamer won't have too many difficulties in smoothly progressing between restart points.

The controls are good and responsive with a feel and style similar to Lostwinds, another excellent wiiware platform game. The learning curve is well balanced carefully introducing new elements of peril at a steady and manageable pace. The only exception to that has been the 'boss' areas that I've encountered where there is a sharp, but not unmanageable, rise in concentration required.

Spread across the game there are 100 bonus items hidden away for you to collect in devious and sometimes seemingly inaccessible spots. Collecting all of these should add some length to the game which, unfortunately is reported to be very short. Some people are claiming to have completed it in under 3 hours.

For what it is, a £7 wiiware title, I rate this game highly. All of the different components fall into place to give a worthwhile experience which and I will be sad once I've completed it.

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UPDATE: News today that due to a trademark issue (Kid Icarus if you're curious) the game will be renamed NyxQuest:Kindred Spirits. Not quite as elegant a title I'm sure you'll agree?

Please......................Wait

Much like Gameov3rs blog posts lately, the Xbox 360 guide has been suffering from some annoying de.......................lays. Usually just a few seconds here and there but enough to be a little annoying at times. To be honest I thought it was just my in.................ternet connection playing up a bit as it's only really been noticeable to me the past month or so. However Major Nelson bought it up in his latest podcast having heard many complaints about precious gaming time being lost due to this very problem. He's assured us that they are doing everything they can to get it sor...........................ted and let you know that it aint just you.

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Fatality

So the new Vidzone for the Playstation3 was released yesterday. It's a free service that allows you to stream what I assume is a large selection of music videos straight to your tv. It's a small download which went without a hitch but lets get back to that assumption above... Logging in to Vidzone presents you with a surprisingly drab grey loading screen which soon became far more exciting with the addition of a FATAL ERROR banner. A mild panic set in. What has happened? What have you done to my PS3? Am I looking at a hefty repair bill all because of some service I was just a little curious about? Smearing peanut butter in to the fan vents can be fatal, as can inserting wafer thin ham into the blu ray drive slot, that's why I'm not participating in these activities at the moment. I'm sat on my sofa with a dualshock in my hands, I thought I was fairly safe.

I calmed down and continued reading. Apparently the service is experiencing a higher than expected level of demand. Short sighted maybe but fatal, no. At worst it's a mild annoyance and a shoddy example of how to launch a new feature. I therefore kindly ask that you chill out a little when writing your error reports, a simple sorry is sometimes enough.

Finish him!! on the GAMEOV3R Forum

Mirror's Edge

Late to the party as usual but if you haven’t played Mirror’s Edge, stop playing whatever you're playing and go and get it now. I don’t care if it was released last November. I need to shout about this game. This game should be played, it should be celebrated and definitely shouldn't be left on the shelf to become an overlooked classic. Let me explain.

I have largely ignored this game since its release. I played the demo and while it did impress I found the controls a little difficult to master so, while I was interested, I didn’t bother buying. I read reviews which were generally very positive, highlighted only a few minor issues and yet I still ignored it. Fallout 3 and Fable 2 amongst others are to blame.

Over the weekend though I decided it was time I played Mirror's Edge and, as the youngsters say in their emails and txts to each other, "OMG!". What an utterly fabulous game. I found myself totally engrossed in Faith's exploits. The gameplay is so fluid that it makes water envious. The Flow, as it’s called in the game, is the way in which you make the main character, Faith, strings together a series of jumps, slides, sprints, wall runs, and massive leaps while maintaining her stride. I had a huge grin on my face when I sped through a level executing a series of moves.

There’s a combat element involved. It isn’t central to the game and so is relatively shallow but it works very well. Hand to hand combat, melee attacks, and FPS style shooting are all present. It isn’t central because it’s possible to play through the entire game without shooting anyone. There’s even an achievement for doing just this. This removes Mirror’s Edge from every other FPS game on the shelves and places it by itself as a bit of a hybrid that contains puzzle, platform, race, fps, and fighting elements. Mirror’s Edge is all the better for it. I thoroughly enjoyed disarming guards and casting their gun away before running off up a wall while I laughed to myself.

I loved the anime style cut scenes and the in game graphics are as unique looking as they are brilliant. The style is something Suda51 would be proud of. The story is good enough to draw you into the world that’s presented and the characters have enough depth that you can take an interest in them.

The story mode is relatively short though there are multiple ways of approaching most levels. There are also plenty of moments when you'll have Faith not moving any of her computer generated muscles while you stare at the tele trying to see where on earth you're supposed to go next. When you do work out a route and execute a perfect selection of moves to achieve that route it's very, very satisfying. I suspect that when I play through Mirror’s Edge again it won’t take many hours at all. But, with the knowledge of the levels comes the speed and fluidity that Mirror's Edge does so very well.

Even if the story is a bit short there's more than just that on offer. The time trials and speed runs add new challenges and again there are many ways to get through the levels. To achieve top ranks will take some time and a mastery of running. These additional modes certainly have that "one more go" factor. An element of gaming that I love. There is also some DLC that I haven’t tried but I’ll probably get at some point now I’ve become a fan.

I don't know whether the controls were improved between the release of the demo and the full game but I had no problems controlling Faith this time. Any time that Faith missed her footing it was entirely my fault and not down to dodgy controls or poor collision detection. Leaping from roof to roof, running along cranes, sliding under pipes etc are all in a day’s work for a Runner and I got pretty good at it pretty quickly thanks to the controls.

The game has a sound track fitting of a AAA blockbuster game and it completes the Mirror's Edge package with a gloss that its name exudes.
This is a truly unique experience. If you have not yet played this game I would urge you, 360 and PS3 owners alike, to drop what you're playing and check this out. You won't regret it.

Plus, if you still need convincing, it's now really cheap to pick up
Xbox360 - £12.99 at dvd.co.uk

PS3 - £12.91 at dvd.co.uk

So .... er .... yea, late to the party. What was released this week? Finger on the pulse as ever eh. So what, if you missed this game and it's a few months old. Just get it. Forget that tempting new Terminator Salvation crap and get something with substance. Thrilling, glossy, substance. For more thrilling glossiness head on over to the Forum AND we still look exactly the same.

Wii Breakfast

With the announcement of the Wii Vitality Sensor erm... thingy at E3, the need to connect random objects to the Wii Remote is reaching fever pitch...



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The Last Guardian Trailer (Project Trico)

I posted the early Project Trico trailer last month, but this is the first official one shown by Sony at E3. The game now called "The Last Guardian" is a PS3 exclusive release from Team ICO and is the third entry in the series following ICO and Shadow of the Colossus. Looking more detailed than the leaked version with a few extra bits of game play shown. No release date was announced which probably means we still have quite a wait...



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